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When Florida rookie Joey Tetarenko decided to get noticed, he did it in a big way. On Panther home-ice versus the Columbus Blue Jackets, Tetarenko put the Panthers on the board with his first NHL career goal, an expert two-on-one, top-shelf shot and soon after, former Louisville Panthers teammate, Marcus Nilson, brought the lead to two. Tetarenko not only scored his first NHL goal, he scored his second two periods later, a floater from the right circle to tie the score 5-5 at 6:46 of the third…and then became 3rd Star of the Game. The two goals came on three shots on goal, giving Tetarenko a shooting percentage of 66.7 for the night. Try as he might, he could not stop the Panthers from extending their winless slide to nine.

“It’s especially disappointing for Joey to score the first goal of his career and we can’t win — it’s brutal,” said Panthers right wing Marcus Nilson, who also scored twice in the losing effort for the Panthers.

But, sometimes the taste of scoring that first NHL goal is just what a player needs to get and stay focused on the task at hand. Tetarenko will be very hard at work this summer to obtain his goal of starting and remaining on the Florida Panthers roster for the upcoming season.

In the midst of the Florida Panthers Strength Camp in Miami, Florida last week, right-winger Joey Tetarenko suddenly found himself on his way back home to Louisville, Kentucky to be alongside expectant wife Tina. Don’t worry folks, mom and baby are fine…but the baby has yet to make his debut. Next Wednesday is when mom and da Read more»

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All held true to form for the first 18 picks of the 2001 NHL Entry
Draft.

I mean besides the fact a top center was traded and that some players
ended
up where people didn’t think they would. Then the 19th pick brought the
1st
big surprise. The Boston Bruins selected Kamloops Blazers right wing
Shaone
Morrison. Most if not all experts had Morrison as a second round
selection if
not later. Yet the Bruins made him there pick in the high teens.

At 20
the
Sharks took German center Marcel Goc. Maybe not a reach, yet still
higher
then quite a few people had him ranked.

With pick 26 Dallas really
pulled one
out of there hat. They selected goalie Jason Bacashihua. They selected
Bascashihua even though goalies like Tomas Duba and Andrei Medvedev were
still available. I’m not sure which is odder, the Stars selecting
Bascashihua
with the 26th selection or Bascashihua being taken before those other
goalies.

At pick 28 the Devils made the biggest surprise of the
first
round. They took Saskatoon winger Adrian Foster. Foster played just 5
games
for Saskatoon of the WHL this past season.

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Jeff Dessner the defenseman with the big shot was dealt on Sunday to Atlanta for their 8th round selection no.230 overall and Sather took LEONID ZHVACHIN of PODOLSK JR. in Russia. The 6-0 185 pounder who shoots left and plays defense will remain in Russia unless he is gobbled up in this weeks Canadian Junior League Draft.

Dessner developed a fan following long before ever wearing a Rangers jersey with his big shot and work ethic. Dessner 6-2 195er out of Illinois and the University of Wisconsin finished his collegiate career with 7 goals and 19 points in 38 games. Dessner will compete for a spot with Atlanta in the coming season.

In another trade to note, the Rangers dealt their 7th round pick in 2002 to the Calgary Flames for their 7th round pick in this year’s draft, in which they select Pontus Petterstrom 226th overall.

For more news and notes and my NHL 2001 Entry Draft Review and Analysis stay tuned….

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Last season’s catch phrase, “We’re bigger.We’re faster.We’re younger,” appears to still hold true.Of the fourteen players selected by the
Lightning over the weekend, only one was under 6’3” … he was 6’2”.Included in this group are hulking 6’7” defensemanArt Femenella and 6’5” forward Dennis Packard.

The average size of the fourteen draftees is 6’3”, 200lbs,
three inches taller and ten pounds heavier than last year’s median.

In the 2000 draft, Rick Dudley chose overage European
players with three of his ten total selections.It was expected he would do the same again this year, but when
all was said and done, Dimitri Bezrukov ended up the only player over the age
of nineteen.

The draftees all fit the prototypical Dudley mold, which
consists of size, speed, grit and youth.In other words, “Bigger, Younger, Faster.”

While Dudley used his first four selections to take European
players (3 Russians, 1 Swede), the next six were used to take North Americans,
a bit out of character for Dudley, who is known to have a liking for
Europeans.Du Read more»